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Saturday, December 19, 2009

The Intersection: Emperors New Clothes

The Intersection looks at artists that blend jazz with electronica (a tradition pioneered by non other than Miles Davis on such classic recordings as On The Corner).

Emperors New Clothes (group; 1993 - 2000)

During the '90s England when through a phase known as Acid Jazz. Acid Jazz was essential young DJs, club kids/musicians who were influenced by the crates of jazz albums from Motown, Miles Davis Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson and On The Corner to Herbie Hancock's Headhunter fusion. The bands that came out of this scene were quite good enough though many of them didn't not make a big impact on either side of the Atlantic. One of these bands was Emperors New Clothes.

Emperors New Clothes were originally a sextet that employed the psychedelic aura around their Miles Davis/Ornette Coleman inspiration on record with dazzling results. They only manage to release two albums, Unsettled Life and Wisdom & Lies (both on the Acid Jazz label). What I felt set Emperors New Clothes apart from the rest is they were using Free Jazz as their platform not the soul and funky jazz of their contemporaries at the time. This probably made them serious outsiders for garnering any success outside of London.

You probably won't find either Emperors New Clothes albums in a used record store, that' how obscure the band has become unfortunately. But I did notice Emperors New Clothes on iTunes this week filed under Rock as well as Jazz (silly I know). So go check it out and I hope you dig it.

1 comment:

i discovered them on LastFm and love the track 'no categories'.... went to find more, and you're right, otherwise it's as if they never existed. too bad! great tight acid jazz but less predictable than some other acid jazz.